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Chapter Thirty-Nine
Hanging by a Thread
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     TORI WAITED ON THE CLIFF FOR MF TO COME BACK WITH HER STUFF and noticed how it was taking a while for her to get back but figured that it took a while to grab her stuff and come back. Her phone rang for what felt like the tenth time that night but she answered it when she saw Toni's name flashing across the screen.

     "Hey," she said.

     "Tori, is MF with you?" Toni asked.

     "She was but she went to go get something," Tori said. "She still hasn't come back yet."

     "Tori, Jughead is gone and no one has seen MF since she left the bar," Toni said with concern laced in her voice.

     "So, no one knows where either of them are?" Tori questioned.

     "No, but we have an idea. You need to come to the docks right now."

     "Okay, I'll be right there."

     Tori put her phone back in her pocket and started heading towards the docks where Toni told her to go. She wasn't sure what the problem was but Toni sounded concerned when she called so she figured it had to be pretty bad. When she got to the docks after a long time of walking, everyone was there wondering what happened to the two Serpents. She found Toni standing with Sweet Pea and she was hesitant to go over there but she took a deep breath and went anyway.

     "Has anyone heard anything yet?" she asked while avoiding Sweet Pea's glare burning into her head.

     "Not yet," Toni said with her arms crossed. Sweet Pea walked away without a word and it left Toni confused while Tori felt even smaller. "What's his problem?"

     "Me. We kind of had a disagreement," Tori said while fidgeting nervously with the ends of her sleeves. "I don't wanna talk about it right now."

     Everyone was waiting for the news on the two Serpents and some people were more worried than others. Betty was pacing around impatiently and Eden was biting her fingernails off. Tori kept playing with the sleeves of her blouse and one of them had a small blood stain on it due to the cut she got while she was at Pop's. Her shoes had a bit of dirt on them and her feet were sore from all the running while everything was up in flames and her eyes were heavy with fatigue. Everyone heard a twig snap and turned around to see what made the sound. FP was carrying Jughead and another man with brown hair and a few grey hairs was carrying MF. Both were beaten beyond recognition and Jughead was even missing a huge chunk of skin out of his arm. The only reason Tori was even able to tell which one was MF was because of her long hair. Both of them were barely breathing and Tori's heart dropped as her breathing picked up.

     Tori couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

     "Penny and her Ghoulies," FP said.

     "Tori, call your mom," Toni said.

     Tori pulled out her phone and quickly dialed her mother's number. She bit her fingernails as she waited for an answer and sighed in relief when her mom picked up.

     "Tori, are you home right now?" she asked.

     "Mom, the Serpents need your help again. Jughead and MF were beaten unconscious and they're barely breathing right now," Tori quickly said and everyone was confused.

     "Get them here as soon as possible and I need you to stay on the phone and tell me what I'm dealing with so I know what to do," Selena said firmly.

     "Guys, we need to get to the hospital now," Tori said and everyone got in their own vehicles. Jughead and MF were placed in Toni's truck and Tori got in the passenger seat while putting the call on speaker. "Drive."

     "What is your mom saying?" Toni asked.

     "Tori, what are their injuries?" Selena asked.

     "Jughead is missing a huge chunk of skin out of his arm and it's still bleeding," Tori said.

     "Use something, anything and put pressure on it to stop the bleeding," her mother instructed.

     "There's paper towels in the glove compartment," Toni said while keeping her eyes on the road.

     Tori opened the glove compartment and grabbed many sheets of paper towels and pressed them onto Jughead's arm where the bleeding was.

     "What's the status on MF?" Selena asked.

     "A gash on the head above the hairline and a lot of cuts that already stopped bleeding," Tori said quickly.

     "Anything else I should know about?"

     "Both have bruised eyes, split lips, and that's all I can find right now."

     "Alright, just get them here quickly."

     The call ended and Tori kept pressure on Jughead's arm while Toni got closer to the hospital. When they got there, FP and the other man were right behind them and carried the two Serpents inside.

     "Where is Selena Alvarez?" Tori asked the receptionist at the desk.

     "I'm sorry, she's busy right now so you'll have to wait," the woman said and Tori slammed her hands on the desk.

     "Bullshit! I just got off the phone with her and we have two teenagers who are beaten unconscious and barely breathing and they need help right now," she said and the woman sighed while picking up the phone.

     "Nurse Alvarez, your daughter is here with two beaten and unconscious teenagers," the woman said.

     Not much longer, Tori's mother came with a doctor and they had two gurneys for MF and Jughead. Both of them were placed on top of them and were pushed down the hallway.

     "Just wait right here," Selena said before disappearing around the corner.

     Betty, Eden, Archie and Sweet Pea walked into the waiting room where Tori was sitting with Toni, FP and the man whose name she didn't know. All of them waited to hear something but morning was soon arriving.

     "They handed themselves over to Penny and the Ghoulies so you guys didn't have to fight," Tori said as she slouched in her seat.

     "We're still fighting. If we lose two more people tonight, at least we're fighting for them," Toni said.

     "Then it would've all been for nothing. They went so you wouldn't have to."

     "They're my friends and I would still fight for them like how I was ready to fight for Fangs."

     Tori spent hours in the waiting room and by the time the sun started to rise, the Serpents were gone and the only one left was Tori. Selena walked into the waiting room and her presence grabbed Tori's attention.

     "Are they okay?" she asked.

     "They're alive," her mother said and Tori sighed in relief. "MF is already awake if you want to talk to her."

     Tori nodded as she stood up and followed her mother down the hallway and to the elevator. They stopped at the third floor and stopped in front of a room with MF's name on the wall beside the door. Tori walked inside and MF was lying down and she had a few scratches on her face while she was connected to an oxygen tube.

     "Hey," Tori said, grabbing MF's attention.

     "My favourite little Colombian," MF said while smiling.

     "Unless you've ever had any other Colombian friends, I'm satisfied with that title," Tori said as she sat down. "But seriously, what the hell were you thinking?"

     "We didn't want another war like what happened with the Uktena," MF said.

     Tori chuckled lightly. "A little late for that cause they still went."

     "Of course they did."

     "They wanted to fight for you, Jughead and Fangs."

     MF scoffed and Tori played with her hands. "How many of them looked me in the eye recently?"

     "Toni and Eden wanted to fight for you. Toni still cares about you even if you two aren't talking," Tori said.

     "And here I thought Cherry brainwashed her," Toni said while laughing bitterly.

     "No, I got Cheryl to confess and Toni was right there when it happened," Tori said, hoping it would lift MF's spirit but she only chuckled lightly. "Honestly, I don't know how I managed to be her friend for so long."

     "No offence, but I'd rather not talk about discount Regina George on my deathbed."

     "My apologies."

     "It's chill," MF sighed. "You're the second person who came to see me who also wasn't a doctor or a nurse. Guess who wasn't the other person. You got three guesses."

     "Your dad," Tori answered quickly.

     "Yet, I bet he was right there when Sythe woke up," MF said.

     "Well I'm here so let's not worry about him."

     "He's a dickhead."

     "His next Halloween costume should be a condom," Tori said and lightly chuckled at her own joke. "Don't judge, I just thought it would be funny to say."

     MF snorted while Tori laughed a little bit herself. "I never thought I would laugh about him."

     "I never thought that you and I would be talking like this," Tori said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "Weird, isn't it?"

     "I've seen weirder things."

     "Believe me, so have I."

     "I guess us talking isn't the weirdest thing to ever happen."

     MF sighed, "I guess not."

     Tori could see how MF was slowly getting tired and she soon fell asleep while Tori got up. As she was leaving, she saw her mom at the front desk and decided to stop over.

     "Mom, I'm just gonna head home and then come back," she said when her mother asked where she was going.

     "You haven't slept all night have you?" Selena asked.

     "Just a little bit but not a lot. I'm just going to shower and change and I'll be right back," Tori said.

     "Use my key to get inside," Selena said as she gave Tori her key.

     "Thanks, Mom," Tori said before leaving the hospital and heading home.

     She was glad that it didn't take long for her to get home from the hospital by foot but her feet were still sore from the walking and running she did all night. When she got home, she used her mother's key to open the door and went up the stairs to her room where she would find a fresh pair of clothes. She pulled out a grey sweater dress and a pair of black lounge shorts and a pair of fresh socks and undergarments to change into. When she stepped into the bathroom with a towel, she couldn't help but be relieved to finally shower and change out of the clothes she wore for fourteen hours straight.

     What a night.